Mitchell, Reid

1993 Kinesiology and Education graduate Manny Sobral has taken a most unique path among those who have graduated from UBC. Born in Spain, Manny’s family emigrated to Canada when he was 5 years old. At age 13 in an attempt to shed weight, he started boxing at the gym at Hastings & Main. By age 20, as an amateur boxer, he had won five gold medals representing Canada at international competitions. He was three times Canadian Amateur Champion and had represented Canada at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, another of UBC’s unheralded Olympians. His 126 amateur bouts included 40 knockouts and only nine losses.

At age 25 as a teacher in the Burnaby school system and later in Vancouver, Manny turned professional and between 1996 and 1998 was Canadian Super Welterweight champion. During the 1990s he fought some of the world’s best welterweights and at one time was ranked in the top 10 in the world.

In 2002 at age 34, Manny retired from pro boxing with a 29 – 2 record and in addition to his Masters of Education degree co-founded Westcoast Promotions which has successfully promoted professional and amateur boxing events on the lower mainland. He has also promoted athletic charity events as well as World Police and Fire Fighter Games boxing events.

Boxing was and is perhaps Manny’s first love but his teaching is right up there as well as he says “ . . . I love and find (it) fulfilling.” In the words of the president of Boxing Canada “(Manny) is an example of how sport can shape the individual.”

Today Manny, through his sports experience and personality, is referred to as a successful esteem builder and educator of youth at risk.

Written by Fred Hume, UBC Historian

Not many UBC Kinesiology graduates have pursued a career in baseball and be honoured with induction into the Canada Baseball Hall of Fame. In fact only one KIN grad fits that complete description and he is 1968 graduate John Haar.

As a student at UBC Haar can be considered one of the Blue & Gold’s greatest athletes. He was a record-setting T-Bird soccer player on some great UBC teams. As a Varsity football player he was pursued by the BC Lions and actually received a contract offer to play for the Dallas Cowboys. But Haar’s best sport was baseball as he played on UBC’s baseball team during the 1960s under coach Frank Gnup.

After winning the Bobby Gaul Award in 1968 Haar was one of the few Thunderbirds of the era to pursue a professional baseball career playing in both the Yankee and Giants organizations. This evolved into coaching and the establishing of Canada’s National Baseball Institute which helped launch the professional careers of several local baseball players.

In 1999 Haar was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame, later the Burnaby Hall of Fame and in 2007 received induction into the Canada Baseball Hall of Fame located in St. Thomas, Ontario. John remains a baseball lifer, it’s in his blood and he has many interesting stories to tell. He continues to serve baseball in his early 70s as a major league scout.

Written by Fred Hume, UBC Historian

One of BC’s outstanding athletes of the 1970s and 1980s, P.E. (Kinesiology) alumna, Erminia Russo has forged an impressive career in the sport of volleyball. Erminia graduated from high school in Kelowna and in her first year on UBC’s volleyball team, she was a starter who quickly evolved into a three-time Canada West All-Star and All-Canadian. She was considered by her UBC coaches to be the team leader in addition to offensive statistical leader. According to coach Sandy Silver, “Erminia was strong in all aspects of the game . . . had a winning attitude and excellent poise.” In 1985 Erminia made Canada’s national team and played for Canada for eight years. According to Silver, she was “the quarterback of the team,” an experience climaxed by her appearance in the 1986 Olympics. All this as she completed her BPE at UBC in 1989. During the 1990s Erminia played professional volleyball in France, was one of Canada’s top beach volleyball players and embarked upon a coaching career. For two years she coached the University of Western Ontario volleyball team then from 1997/98 through 2000 was the successful head coach of UBC’s women’s team. She took UBC to the CIS finals in 1998 winning both Canada West and CIS Coach of the Year honours that year. In 1999 Erminia was honoured with the UBC Alumni Association Outstanding Young Alumnus Award and in 2007 was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame. Now married to former UBC football player and CFL coach Noel Thorpe, Erminia lives in Montreal where she continues to promote the game of volleyball and can be seen on television as an articulate Canadian volleyball analyst.

Written by Fred Hume, UBC Historian

Physical Education graduate Clyde Griffith is a pioneer on two fronts: he is among the first graduates of UBC’s Recreation program while at the same time was one of the students who in the late 1950s came to UBC from the West Indies. This unique period of UBC history – from the mid 1950s through the mid 1960s – saw a primarily white campus introduced for the first time to Caribbean students who numbered approximately 200. These were the pioneering and accomplished “international” students who spawned UBC’s International House.

Clyde, from Trinidad, was part of this unique period, first enrolling in Medicine then realizing physical education and recreation were his passions. Also a noted musician, Clyde graduated from UBC in 1964 – he was International Student of the Year in 1962 – and quickly found his fellow alumni not only assisted his career but became life-long friends.

Griffith had a distinguished career in recreation as he was the first Recreation Director for the cities of Delta and Surrey and for over 20 years was Recreation Consultant for the BC provincial government. He was involved in many special projects including the Canada Summer and Winter Games and Commonwealth Games.

Griffith, who has a Masters in Community Development, also contributed to the community through authoring “The Black History Resource Guide,” documenting the contribution of black pioneers in BC.

Clyde has received many honours, among them recognition for his work with UBC’s International House and inclusion in “Who’s Who in Black Canada” and says his “ . . . driving desire is to give something back to my community.”

Written by Fred Hume, UBC Historian